Re: [greenyes] landfill bans and organics

["Jenny Bagby" <Jenny.Bagby@no.address>]

Sharon, I would question the assertion that residential greenwaste can
not be composted "economically" into a high quality product.  We have
been doing just that since 1989.  We have an ordinance preventing "yard
waste" from going in residential garbage cans.  It has been very
effective in removing this material from the msw stream.  The material
goes to a compost facility about 30 miles away and the resulting
product, Cedar Grove Compost, is sold all over the region.  The
contracted tip fee at the compost facility for Seattle yard waste is
currently about $24 per ton (and they are still in business!).
Jenny
City of Seattle

>>> <Sharon_Gates@no.address> 6/28/2004 9:12:26 AM >>>

I have toured a couple of near-by composting operations in the last
year 
or so, and saw that both of them routinely grind
residentially-collected 
greenwaste and send the ground material to the landfill for ADC.  They

both said that residentially-collected material is too contaminated to

economically use as a composting feedstock.  As a municipal collection

agency, this leaves me with limited choices:  collect separated
greenwaste 
and take it to the local landfill where it is used as ADC, collect 
separated greenwaste and take it to the local composter for grinding
and 
use as ADC, spend a large sum of money to take separated greenwaste to
a 
far-away composter who may compost it or may grind it and send it for
ADC, 
collect greenwaste co-mingled with refuse and send it to our 
waste-to-energy plant.  I don't want to get into the justification or
lack 
of same for WTE here, but, given these choices AT THIS POINT IN TIME,
my 
choice as a municipality seems pretty clear.

My point is not to try to justify WTE.  Instead, I would advocate 
including ADC in the landfill ban.  In other words, greenwaste
shouldn't 
go into a landfill period -- not in the trash cells, and not over them

either.  Until landfilling greenwaste (in whatever form) is no longer
an 
option (or is economically infeasible), it will be difficult and
expensive 
to do the right thing.  And if it's expensive, you can bet that 
municipalities won't do it -- not with the kinds of budgetary
constraints 
we all operate under these days.  Of course, you can't just ban 
landfilling the material without having some other option in place, but

that's another discussion.

Sharon Gates
Recycling Specialist
City of Long Beach, California
562/570-4694